As many readers may know, Pulp Fiction — long a useful fixture on Main Street — opened a branch office on Commercial a few weeks ago. I visited it when it was just opening, and again today now that it should be settled. However, the shop continues to give the impression of being temporary, with the former Hair Stylists’ canopy still confusingly in place, and the interior having that unlived-in feel. It is as if one were at a Word On The Street stand rather than a real bookstore.

Having spent some time looking at the shelves, I asked one of the store folks where their local history section was. “Don’t have one”, he said. “We used to have Chuck Davis’s Visual Vancouver but it was a bit expensive to sell much.” I pointed out that Visual Vancouver was by Bruce Macdonald and perhaps he meant History of Metropolitan Vancouver. “Oh. Maybe so.”

I asked whether he had Encyclopedia of Commercial Drive or The Drive and he did not, expressing a little surprise that such books existed. But, he said, if they were actually in print he could order them and sell them to me at a discount. I didn’t tell him I was the author. I’m not sure he would have taken it well.

We have no need for these interlopers who just want some of our retail dollars. Luckily for those of us who want to buy books on Commercial Drive we have the unbeatable People’s Coop Bookstore, which has a full range of fiction and non-fiction, including a comprehensive local authors’ section.